Nature in the Home: hedgerow

'Hedgerow' was this week's theme for Lou's Nature in the Home series. I found it a bit of a challenge as there had been a big pot full of cow parsley on the mantelpiece at the weekend and I've just finished picking up all those tiny little petals.

So we went for a little walk yesterday evening down a farm track near home. I spotted (and photographed) pink clover, buttercups and dandelion clocks. But I brought home some of the branches we always point out in winter. They're dead and dried out, and I think from elder trees. 

I love the sulphur yellow lichen on them.

I've also got a bit of red campion.

And what's known as plantain (I learnt this from a new book - more in a later post).

And no, these aren't eggs pinched from a nest. They're quail's eggs from a trip to the 'egg man' this afternoon. He sells his own honey and eggs, plants, fruit and vegetables from the garage of his little farmhouse. You can also buy kindling wood and a few oddities.

The plan is to blow the eggs for a small project. For You Know Who.